Container



c. 0. BALL 2,478,35

CONTAINER Filed May 19, 1945 Patented Aug. 9, 1949 CONTAINER Charles 0. Ball, Maumee, Ohio, asslgnor to Owens-Illinois Glass Company. a corporation of Ohio Application May 19, 1945, Serial No. 594,698

3 Claims. (Cl. 229-38) My invention relates to articles including containers for liquids, made from blanks of paper or other sheet material of novel pattern provided with score lines or fold lines at which the blanks are folded for shaping the articles.

An object of the invention is to provide a blank form of improved design adapted to be folded and shaped to form a rectangular tube, which may serve, for example, as a container body, and having an integral foldable portion designed to form a closed end of the tube, the blank form beingdesigned to provide efiicient use of the. sheet material from which it is cut.

A further object of the invention is to provide a construction of the character indicated which is adapted for holding liquids, and which is less vulnerable to leakage than designs of the prior art. For the attainment of this object the invention provides a construction in which the variation between thicknesses of different areas of the bottom of the container or other article, is reduced to a minimum. Specifically, the invention provides such a construction in which the thickest parts of the folded bottom comprise not more than three layers of the sheet material.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a novel container of the character indicated in which there are no Joints in the bottom corners and no out edges extending to any of the bottom corners.

Other objects of the invention will appear hereinafter.

Referring to the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a blank of sheet material adapted to be folded for forming a rectangular container.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view, on a somewhat larger scale, of the inverted container with the bottom end partly folded.

Fig. 3 is a sectional plan view showing the interior surface of the container bottom.

Referring particularly to Fig. 1, the blank consists of a single piece of sheet material such as paper, cardboard or the like, having fold lines along which the blank is folded for shaping the article. These fold lines may consist of scores, creases, or weakened lines and are indicated on the drawing by broken lines. The blank is folded along vertical score lines 4, t, 6, and l, to form the body of the container having sides or panels t, t, lid-and l I. The panels may be of equal width if desired to form a body square in cross section. A body seam flap it, folded along the. line i, lies against the inner surface of the side 8, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, d is attached thereto by a coating of an adhesive material to make a liquid-tight seam. The upper and lower marginal edges of the container are defined by fold lines l3 and I4 respectively. The top of the container is formed by folding inwardly, flaps l6, H, H; and I9 along the score line l3, but as they form no part of the present invention they are not described in detail.

The bottom edge of the blank is defined by lines extending between the points A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, L, M, N, O, P, and Q. The blank is slit along lines JK, KL, and 2B. The portion of the blank below the score line 14 comprises foldable sections 24, 25, 26, and 21 which are extensions respectively of the sides 8, 9, l0, and H, which when folded as hereinafter described, form the bottom of the container. These extensions are herein referred to as flaps, but they are connected together along their adjoining edges by the fold lines 4, 5 and 6 which are extended downward through the bottom end-forming portion of the blank so that the flaps are not separated by lines of cleavage as are the top flaps 6 to I9. The flap 25 includes a triangle 2!, one side of which is defined by a diagonal score line '2! extending from the point I to the point of intersection of the score lines 5 and I4. A comparatively short diagonal score line 20, extending from the point J to the point of intersection of the lines 4 and it, marks a triangle 2i. The flap 2'! includes triangular sections 22 and 2t marked respectively by a score line 22 extending from the point D to the point of intersection of the lines 6 and It, and a short diagonal score line 23 extending from the point of intersection of the lines 1 and It to the inner end of a slit 28 which extends inwardly horizontally from the point B.

After the blank has been folded to form the rectangular body, the bottom end is formed by folding the flaps 2d, 25, 26 and 21 inwardly along the fold line H which new forms the perimeter or bottom edge of the rectangular body, the flaps at the same time being folded along the diagonal score lines 20, 2t, 22, and 23 as indicated in Figs. 2 and 3. The end flap 25 is folded inwardly to a position perpendicular to the side walls of the container, and the part thereof between the lines 20 and 2!, forms a portion of the inner surface layer or ply of the folded bottom and assumes the position shown in Fig. 3. This portion is substantially in the form of a, triangle but with a rectangular extension bounded by the lines JK,

of the fold line 20. The section B, C, D, may be removed in like manner.

As the end flap 25 is folded inwardly, the flaps 24 and 26 are also folded inwardly and overlie a portion of the flap 25. As the flap 25 folds inward at the line l4, it also folds along the diagonal lines 20 and 2|, thus folding back the triangular portions 20 and 2 I into position to form intermediate layers of the material positioned respectively between the folded flaps 24, 25 and flaps 26, 25.

The side flap 24 is narrower than the opposite side flap 26, being preferably half the width of the narrow sides 9 and II of the container body as clearly shown in Fig. 3. The flap 26 is of a width intermediate that of the flap 24 and the said sides 9 and II, and in the folded bottom extends over a portion of the flap 24, thus forming the outermost or bottom layer of the major portion of the container bottom as a whole.

The end flap 21 folds inwardly in substantially the manner above described in connection with the flap 25, and forms a, part of the inner surface of the container bottom as shown in Fig. 3. The side seam flap I2 is extended downward below the fold line H in the blank (Fig. 1), thus providing a rectangular extension 30 or section which folds inwardly and overlies a portion of the infolded end flap 21. As the said section 30 folds inwardly, it overlies the triangular section 23*. The flap 24 is cut away along the lines NO, OP, and PQ, so that the recess thus formed registers with that portion of the infolded section 30 which overlies the triangular section 23 This avoids the formation of a four-ply thickness or four superposed layers of the material. The edge PQ of the section 24 forms a butt joint with the fold line 23 but offset by the layer of material comprised in the section 30.

A butt joint is formed where the edge AB of section 30 meets the edge ON of the flap 24. The flap 24 also forms butt joints along its edge LM with the triangles 2| and 22 at their edges HI and DE respectively. The edge FG of the flap 26 forms butt joints with the triangle 23 along its edge 28 and with the triangle 20 along its edge JK but offset by the interposed flap 24.

It will be seen that the folded bottom is limited throughout its area to a thickness of not more than three layers at any point, and also that the infolded end flaps 25 and 21 provide with the side flaps, areasof three-ply thickness extending to the four bottom corners of the container, thus providing adequate strength and stiffness where the container is most vulnerable or liable to damage which would cause leakage. It will be further noted that no cut edge extends to any corner of the bottom, so that joints are avoided at the corners.

Modifications may be resorted to within the spirit and scope of my invention.

4 formed with parallel fold lines defining panels which form the sides of said body, the blank including a narrow strip between and having its edges formed by one said fold line and the outer edge of the blank and forming a body seam strip, said blank having a fold line extending throughout its length perpendicular to said parallel fold lines and forming the dividing line between the body and said end-forming portion, said end-forming portion comprising extensions 'of the said panels, said seam strip being extended into said end-forming portion and providing a corner piece foldable into said end at one corner thereof, said comer piece being at one end of the blank, the other end of the blank being formed with a recess spaced from the corner of the blank in position .to register with said corner piece when the said end-forming portion of the blank is folded to shape said closed end.

2. A blank of sheet material adapted to be folded to form a rectangular tubular body and having an integral end-forming portion foldable to form a closed end for said body, said blank having parallel score lines dividing it into narrow and comparatively wide panels which form the sides of the said body, the blank having a score line perpendicular to and intersecting said parallel lines and separating the body-forming portion of the blank from the end-forming portion, said parallel score lines dividing said end-forming portion into flaps individual to said panels, the flaps having free edges parallel throughout their length with the said intersecting score line, said narrow panels each having downwardly convergent diagonal score lines extending from the upper corners of the said flaps and providing triangular sections adapted to be folded back against the flaps as the latter are folded inwardly to form said body, one of said diagonal score lines of each said narrow. flap being substantially shorter than the other and terminating at an intermediate point between the upper and lower edges of the flap, said blank having slits connecting said last mentioned score lines with the adjoining said parallel lines, said slits being parallel with said free edges of the flaps.

3. A container comprising a rectangular body and a closed bottom end, said container consisting of the blank as described in claim 2 and formed by folding said blank and adhering together the superposed parts of the folded blank.

CHARLES 0. BALL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Great Britain Oct. 31, 1918 record in the Number Number 

